AFL Adelaide v Geelong: Jay Clark analyses Gather Round opener

Patrick Dangerfield came back to haunt his former side in a Leigh Matthews-like performance up forward. Jay Clark writes, it’s the positional move that could have the biggest bearing on the 2025 flag.

Patrick Dangerfield has done a Leigh Matthews.

The man who powered Geelong to its last premiership from the midfield strapped on his Superman cape again on Thursday night to break his old team’s heart in Adelaide.

It was a captivating start to one of the biggest weekends on the footy calendar, and a Gather Round goal fest in front of 50,000 fans.

But the man who clinched it is not a midfield wrecking ball anymore.

Dangerfield flexes on the Crows. Picture: Michael Klein

If the Cats are going to challenge for another flag this year, Dangerfield will have to write the Cats’ September story in a forward role.

It is the positional change which could have the biggest bearing in this year’s AFL title fight.

And when the Cats landed line breaker Bailey Smith from the Western Bulldogs to add new spice and running power to the engine room, it was with the Dangerfield domino effect in mind.

And unsurprisingly, when the game was on the line midway through the last term, it was the champion ball-winner who stood up like ‘Lethal’ and bullocked his way to back-to-back goals which put this one in the Cats’ pocket.

Patrick Dangerfield's fourth goal

For years, Jeremy Cameron has been the man to stop in attack in blue and white.

And in the past week we’ve lauded the Crows’ three-headed monster down the other end and in particular Riley Thilthorpe.

Crows’ forward Darcy Fogarty booted four goals in the second term to build a buffer, and the Adelaide fans were thinking about the top four.

But it was the 35-year-old who put his stamp on this one, booting his biggest bag of the season with a four-goal haul in the 19-point win.

The Geelong skipper looked unstoppable at times. Picture: Michael Klein

He has 11 for the season, already.

And it’s his power that makes ‘Danger’ such a difficult match-up.

It could be one of the best 16 possession games of the season and the veteran Cat could definitely snare the three votes on Brownlow Medal night.

What it showed was the man who finished a narrow second in the 2022 Norm Smith Medal still knows how to win a game albeit from inside 50m.

It was a phenomenal comeback from Chris Scott’s men on Thursday night, clawing back from 30 points down in the second term to spoil the locals party on the hill.

It was a spectacular backdrop with fans jam-packed under Adelaide Oval’s beautiful old scoreboard.

But now one of the AFL’s hype teams in Adelaide suddenly has a headache after dropping to their second loss in a row.

The club was on the end of a horror decision last weekend which could have cost them a win against Gold Coast when Izak Rankine was tackled in a marking contest.

Last night, remarkably, they were dudded again.

Cat Ollie Dempsey was paid a mark in the boundary line which was clearly touched by Lachie Sholl.

Man in front? 🤔

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And when Dempsey banged home the goal the Crows’ fans made their disappointment clear as boos rang out across the stadium.

They have certainly copped the rough end of the stick in recent times, the Crows.

But Dangerfield delivered the most bitter pill as one of the club’s former stars handed his old team another Gather Round defeat.

This was an epic start to the round as the two clubs banged home 33 goals, continuing a slightly upward scoring trend in 2025.